


Where To Start

by sgteam14283



Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Gen, Spies & Secret Agents, Undercover as a Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgteam14283/pseuds/sgteam14283
Summary: No matter the time, place, or universe Clint and Natasha are there for each other.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov
Comments: 14
Kudos: 10
Collections: be_compromised Bingo Collection





	1. Remember Budapest?

**Author's Note:**

> This is for be_compromised's BINGO challenge. I had a lot of fun coming up with the fills for the squares. Don't own anything you see, enjoy!

No one really knew what happened on the Budapest mission. 

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov each filed a report from what they experienced, but even after Deputy Director Phil Coulson asked them to rewrite their reports the versions still differed. So rather than raise his blood pressure again, Coulson just filed both reports and let the matter drop; they were both alive and the mission objective had been accomplished so he considered that a win.

\--  
Clint Barton ran across the field while trying to keep down over the hail of gunfire. Leaping and rolling into cover, he quickly pulled an arrow from his quiver and armed his bow. “How’s it look out there?”

“ _Lots of bad guys nearing your position._ ” He heard Natasha say from her spot in the guard tower. Normally he was the one with the bird's eye position, but the op called for his skill set on the ground this time. 

“Y’know, this reminds me of Budapest.” Cling casually remarked while aiming at the barrels of what he hoped was full of something explosive. 

“You remember Budapest differently than I do. There was less gunfire.” Natasha replied as she smashed her elbow into the nose of a guard trying to stop her from getting to the computer terminal. 

“No, there was more gunfire.”

“ _Hawk, Widow._ ” Phil said over their comm set, trying to get them to focus on the mission at hand. “ _A little focus please. I’m sure Widow could use that distraction sooner rather than later, Hawk._ ”

“Yeah.” Natasha grunted, slamming her fist into another’s stomach. “A distraction would be welcome so I could get out of here.”

“One distraction coming right up.” Clint took a breath to aim his arrow a bit lower and then let it sail. The arrow pierced the first barrel and created a spark, combusting the flammable material in it and making it explode. 

A chain reaction happened and when it was all said and done, half the complex was either on fire or destroyed. As Natasha burst out of the building and ran towards Clint’s retreating figure. Smiling a little as she caught up, she couldn’t help but get one more jab in. “There was _definitely_ less things exploding in Budapest, Hawk.”

Clint just shook his head and kept up the pace until they were in the woods and heading towards the Quinjet.

\--  
“This reminds me of Budapest.” Natasha remarked over the comm as she walked down the Champs-Èlysées in Paris. She was in one of her less combative aliases and enjoyed the change of pace for once. Rather than running for her life she was leisurely walking down the avenue, the Arc de Triomphe in the far distance. “Expensive coffee, I got some heels at that nice boutique just outside the city center, and some nice hole-in-the-wall places to eat.”

“You and I remember Budapest differently.” Natasha heard Clint mutter as her heels hit the concrete and she stopped in front of one of the many luxury shops that lined the street. “There were definitely no snooty coffee drinks that cost fifteen euros.”

Natasha smiled at the comment, knowing that Clint was somewhat miserable in his role as social secretary to her socialite cover but also knew it gave both of them access to the target. “Maybe not for you, but it was all that for me. Admit it, the drinks there were better than the cheap stuff at your apartment.”

“Hey, I take offense to what you call ‘cheap.’ Some of that beer is from independent breweries. They take their stuff seriously.”

Clint knew that Natasha was teasing him. It had become a game over the years, something for them to do on missions that were a little out of their comfort zones. One of them would make a comment about Budapest and the other would reply back that they remembered the city differently. They really did remember that mission differently, but at the same time there were elements that they both experienced.

They’d both been separated, tried to find the other, and somehow managed to finish the mission. 

“ _Maybe that’s why we joke about it._ ” Clint thought to himself as Natasha decided to step into the clothing store and he followed in his persona as someone who was seen but not acknowledged. “ _Because it made us closer as friends and SHIELD agents. Either way I’m glad the Budapest mission happened._ ”


	2. Endgame was BS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint thinks the way to get the Soul Stone is stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the 'fix-it' fill for the Bingo card and honestly.... *gestures to the title* it is what it says on the tin.

Natasha Romanov looked up at Clint Barton, feeling her hand slip from his and looked up at him. The pain on his face says it all, that he didn’t want it to come to this. But it had to be done to gain the soul stone. “Clint...it’s okay. Just let me go.”

“Fuck that Nat. Remember what we promised each other back in London?” Clint gritted out, his other hand on the rope slipping a little. "There's probably another way to get the stone we just-"

" _Clint._ " Natasha snapped, her feet brushing the cliff as they continued to dangle there. "You know by now that's not going to happen." she took a deep breath before continuing, "There's no one waiting for me, Barton."

"Oh for fuck's sake." Clint muttered to himself before he did the only thing that came to mind that might save them and get them the Soul Stone.

He let go of the rope and they both went falling towards the ground. 

As the stone rushed towards them, Natasha closed her eyes- not wanting to see the seconds slipping away and relaxed. She waited for the impact of stone against her...but it never came. And instead of the wind against her skin, there was only a gentle breeze.

Confused, Natasha opened her eyes to see Clint in front of her. They were both on the surface of the planet and...still alive. They were sopping wet, Clint's mohawk flattened against his head and she felt the pull of the undersuit as it chafed against her skin. Between them was something glowing yellow, casting a pale light against their chests. Looking down she saw it was the soul stone.

“Clint.” 

“Nat.” they whispered at the same time, not sure what was happening.

Natasha cautiously reached a hand out and the stone fell into it. Then Clint was pulling her up off the ground and into a hug. She returned it and closed her eyes as the tears fell, they were _alive_.

“Let’s get out of here.” Clint said after a few minutes had passed. “We need to get the stone back to the compound.”

“But how-” Natasha started as Clint stood and she followed him.

“We can figure that out later.”

\--

The breeze coming off the lake ruffled Natasha’s hair and she wandered towards the shore after Tony’s memorial. The last few month’s had been a blur; fighting Thanos and his forces, getting back to the Farm as soon as they could, trying to explain everything to Laura, and figuring out how her and Clint had survived getting the soul stone.

But for right now she was going to enjoy the quiet of the moment.

“Tony picked a pretty nice spot didn’t he?” Natasha heard Clint say as he came up behind her and proceeded to sit down next to her. “Away from everything. Kind of reminds me of the Farm.”

“Why’d you let go?” Natasha had asked herself that question ever since getting back to the compound, but there had never been a moment alone with Clint where she could ask him. “And don’t give me the ‘I’ve done horrible things the past five years.”

Clint stared at the lake for a long moment before answering, “Remember what I said back there, ‘You jump, I jump’? For as long as I can remember it’s been the two of us. We’re a team, hell the only Strike Team that HYDRA didn’t get their grubby hooks into. We’ve seen so much and been through so much, that for you to just...make the decision that your life was worth more than mine wasn’t fair. We’ve both done horrible things and shown each other that we can make up for it.” 

Clint let a half-smile appear as he glanced at Natasha, “Plus what was I going to tell Laura and the kids? That you weren’t coming back?” 

“But how did we both _survive_? I mean, it was ‘a soul for a soul’ thing right?”

“Asked Strange about it, he said that we must of short-circuited the thing. That it took a half from each and so...two halves make a whole.”

“So we’re each missing a half of our soul?”

“No. I’ve got mine here with me.” Clint playfully bumped his shoulder against Natasha’s. “I’m here, you’re here, Laur and the kids are back...that’s all I need.”

Natasha flashed a small smile at Clint, “Same here.”


	3. Hawkeye's Animal Sanctuary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the AU square and was born out of a discussion from a writing discord server I'm in about how Tony probably wouldn't know how much something would cost. Also shout-out to the server for being awesome as I was writing this, letting me bounce ideas and bits of dialogue off them as I was writing these!

The alarm blaring woke Clint Barton up and he groaned, slapping it quiet. It was too damn early, and he wanted to sleep. He always wanted to sleep in, but running an animal sanctuary meant he got up early and went to bed late. 

It also meant he got to rescue circus animals from the inhumane conditions that they’d experienced while forced to perform. When he was in the circus as the Amazing Hawkeye, he’d seen those small cages and other abuses first hand and when he’d left had been determined to save as many animals as he could.

Lucky gave a bark, pulling Clint from his hazy thoughts and gave a sleepy smile to the golden retriever, “Okay okay, I’m up.”

Shuffling into the kitchen, he woke-up while fixing himself a pot of coffee- the first of many for the day. By the time the area started to smell like the roasted beans, he was awake and the sun had lightened the sky. 

His phone vibrated and Clint saw that it was a text from his head of security, Natasha Romanov. 

“Ugh, now what?” he muttered while opening the message. Yesterday she’d been worried about some of the local kids possibly slipping through the fence and trying to bother the lions. 

“ _Because that’s the last thing I need, some dumb teenager needing stiches and then Karen trying to sue the sanctuary. Even though there are signs posted everywhere._ ” he thought while scanning the message.

Luckily it wasn’t bad news, apparently Tony Stark’s assistant wanted to call later. About what, the text didn’t say, but Hawkeye’s Rescue Sanctuary _could_ use the publicity and if one of the largest corporations in the country was poking around his small rescue outfit...it wouldn’t hurt to take it.

“What do you think, Lucky? Should I tell Nat to set it up?” Clint looked down at his dog and watched as the retriever just wagged his tail. “You’re right we do need a new water filtrations system.”

Walking outside hours later, Clint was grateful for the early summer air; there was still the chill of spring but it was gone by noon. Spotting the Jeep in its usual spot, Clint knew that Natasha was most likely behind the main building where he’d set up a small high wire and a few archery targets. “ _Nat likes to still train when she can._ ”

Natasha joining Carson’s Traveling Circus a few years before Clint had left turned out to be the best thing that’d happened to him. She’d joined the high wire act but brought her knife throwing skills into the mix. They’d become fast friends and when Clint expressed his disdain at how the animals were treated, she’d agreed with him. They soon started planning on open an animal rescue and it had morphed into what they had today; a reserve for circus animals once they were deemed “too old to perform” or were taken from outfits that couldn’t take care of them properly.

Rounding the corner of the administration building, he spotted a blur of movement above him and leaning against the building watched as Natasha landed on the balancing wire with the grace of a ballerina. Arms outstretched, she paused only long enough to pull out the knives and took a moment to aim before throwing them towards the stationary targets below. All but one missed and Clint bit back a smile as Natasha frowned before making her way towards the end of the wire and then climbing down.

“A bit out of practice?” he gently teased as she unclipped the harness from the safety lines.

Natasha just shot Clint a look before replying, “Not all of us are master marksmen Hawkeye.” Putting her hands on her hips, she looked up at the rigging and safety net while continuing, “It’s been awhile since I tried my old act. Reminded me of when I joined an outfit and heard that they had someone who never missed.”

“Oh? And what happened?” 

“Thought he was the most annoying person at first but then realised that there was a heart underneath all the jokes.” 

Clint stepped closer to Nat as she spoke, looping his free hand through hers. They were in a not serious relationship, they were fine with seeing other people but for some reason they always drifted back towards one another. He didn’t know why, but whatever the reason was he was glad because it seemed like Natasha was the only one who understood why he’d wanted to open a circus animal rescue. 

Natasha looked at Clint and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could the sound of a car pulled them back into the present and Clint removed his hand before taking a step back. A hatchback rounded the service road and the familiar purple and white color told them that it was Kate Bishop. 

Bishop had been assigned to the rescue as part of her community service but learned that she loved working with large animals and decided to stick around; coming around a few times a week during the school year and then four days a week during the summer months. 

“You’re late.” Clint called out before taking a sip of his rapidly cooling coffee. 

“Oh?” Kate replied as she stepped out and took off her aviator sunglasses. “You mean for the voluntary hours on one of my days off?”

“Volunteer days off. I don’t pay you, remember.” Clint didn’t mind the sharpness of Kate’s words, it reminded him of the back and forth him and Barney used to do. “ _Before Barney left the circus and bought on a farm in Iowa that is._ ”

“I wanted to see if the female lion in the south field finally had her cubs.” Kate reached through the window and fished out her Starbucks while smiling. “Doctor Banner said she was due any day. Besides, you promised to help me with my archery today.”

“Yeah, yeah, when you’re done in the south field.” Clint waved a hand towards one of the jeeps and watched as Kate flashed him a smile and ran up the steps into the building for the keys. “Why do I keep letting her come around?”

“You know what her life is like, this place is a break from all of that. Besides, it’s nice that she has one stable adult around.”

Clint didn’t argue and watched as Kate bounded down the steps and into the jeep before driving off. A glance at his watch told him that he was almost late for his morning rounds around the sanctuary and walked towards his own vehicle. Both of the women in his life could be stubborn and a pain in the ass at times, but he was glad that they were.

\--  
The phone rang and Clint quickly finished the sentence he was reading before answering, “Hawkeye's Animal Sanctuary, this is Clint Barton speaking.”

“ _This is Pepper Potts, Mister Stark’s assistant- do you have a few moments to talk?_ ”

Clint sat up when he realized who was calling and ran a hand through his hair, even though she couldn’t see him. “Uh...yeah. My head of security said that you spoke to her about something.”

“ _Yes! I met Miss Romanov at a function last month and mentioned that Mister Stark was looking to visit your place. Apparently him and Doctor Banner are friends and Banner said he’s done some wonderful work at your place._ ”

“ _If you count letting his grad students help with the animals in exchange for pretty much free vet care as wonderful work._ ” Clint thought as Pepper started asking questions at a rapid fire pace. He answered them as best as he could; how big the sanctuary was, what kinds of animals there were, what the main goal of the place was, all of the things that looked good in a press release.

By the time the call was over, Clint sat back in his chair and let out a slow breath trying to process what had just happened. Then he heard a bark from outside, quickly followed by the screen door opening and the tell-tale jangling of Lucky’s tags reaching his ears as a golden streak ran across the room towards Clint. Laughing at the dog enthusiasm he ran a hand through Lucky’s fur.

Natasha spotted the bewildered look on Clint’s face and let the screen door close on her, folding her arms as she stood in place. “Everything okay? Did something else break?”

“No, nothing’s broken. Well, not that I know off.” Clint let a soft smile appear as he gave Lucky one last pat before standing and making his way towards Natasha. “I just spent forty-five minutes on the phone with Pepper to set up Stark’s visit. Although I still don’t understand why he wants to come to a small, not-famous sanctuary.” 

Natasha shrugged, “Maybe he wants to do some good with a smaller outfit, and doesn’t want a lot of cameras shoved in his face when he visits.”

“This is the man who fell into a hotel water fixture with two other girls and when asked to leave, bought the hotel.” Clint paused for a moment before adding, “Or that could be Bruce Wayne, I get those two mixed up sometimes. But the point that Tony Stark is the least flashy person on the planet still stands.”

Natasha laughed at the remark, “Well if he lands his helicopter in the middle of the reserve then I’ll do my wire act without a harness.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

\--  
Clint buttoned his official polo, paused to look at his reflection in the mirror, and then unbuttoned the polo.

“Stop.” Natasha said while not looking up from the book she was reading while sitting casually at Clint’s desk. 

“I’m not doing anything.” 

Natasha flicked a glance to where Clint was, “Yes you are. Your polo is fine. Just take a breath and relax.”

Clint frowned, hating how Natasha knew him so well. Trying to follow her advice, he brushed a hand through his hair before turning away from the mirror and towards the door. “I’m going to get my bow.”

“Good idea.” Natasha watched as Clint walked outside and uncrossed her legs, letting them drop down to the floor. She understood how Clint felt, but knew one of them had to keep it together until Stark arrived. 

Clint went out to the shed that was locked most of the time and opened the door, letting his eyes adjust before walking in all the way. This was where he kept all the safety rigging and archery equipment for himself and Natasha. Breathing in the slightly musty air, he walked over to the workbench and picked up the compound bow that was in the middle. This was what he was good at, the bow fit his grip like a glove and a second extension of himself.

Walking out of the shed, he heard the sound of tires crunching the gravel and looked to see three SUVs coming to a stop at the end of the drive. Realizing that Stark was finally here, Clint ducked back in long enough to lean the bow against the wall and hustle back out to greet the billionaire. Natasha was already talking with Pepper, both redheads smiling at something. 

“-that should cover the price.” Tony Stark turned around and spotted Clint Barton walking towards the small party. “Send Pepper the details and I’ll look them over.” Finished with the call, he handed his phone to Pepper while walking towards Clint. “Barton! It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about what you do from Bruce.”

“Thanks, I was surprised to hear that you and Doctor Banner knew each other.” Clint was slightly caught off guard by the seeming friendliness radiating from Tony but hoped he hid it well. Returning the smile, he motioned towards the jeep they were going to use, “Why don’t we start with a tour of the sanctuary and we can fill you in on what we do here.”

“Great! It’s been awhile since I’ve driven one of these.” Tony gave Pepper a wink while taking the keys from Natasha and striding towards the vehicle. “But I’ve always been good with a stick shift.”

Natasha looked at the surprise at Clint’s face and knew that it almost mirrored her own. Pepper had given her a heads up that something like this might happen, that Tony had the personality of someone who wasn’t told ‘no’ on a regular basis. But they both recovered quickly and climbed into the jeep that they used for the tours they gave. It was a tight fit but with Clint sitting in the middle passenger seat, with Pepper and a bodyguard next to him, they managed it. 

“You can pull over here.” Clint shouted over the sound of the engine and wind, pointing to the tree by the side of the road. 

As Tony stopped the car, Clint unbuckled himself while pulling up the binoculars he’d thought to stick in beforehand. Scanning for a few seconds, with nothing but the sound of bugs and the wind rustling the leaves, he found what he was looking for. Pointing to the distance he said, “Take a look to the left, there’s Thor.”

“Who’s Thor?” Pepper asked, shading her eyes from the sun with her hand as she tried to find what Clint was pointing out.

“Our first rescue. We’d just put the down payment on the place when we got a call about a lion that was possibly being put down by his owner.” Natasha said in a low tone, not wanting to disrupt the still atmosphere. “We managed to work with a local group to stop that and brought him here.”

“Is that normally how you bring animals in? With local groups?” Tony asked as he spotted the lion as the animal stood and stretched from its sun nap.

“Sometimes. Other times circuses decide to phase out their animal acts because they’re not that popular anymore, or they bow to public pressure, and look to rehome the animals elsewhere if they don’t have their own sanctuaries.” Natasha said, glancing back at Clint and giving him a soft smile. “Or we find out they’re being mistreated and we rescue them.”

“What other animals do you have?” Tony asked, while unbuckling himself and standing to get a better look. “Any other lions?”

“A few. They all came from the same circus so they’re used to each other and not aggressive. We also have a few elephants and a number of horses.” Clint watched as Thor gave a large yawn and started to wander away from the group. “We have a stable by the main building and are trying to finish a few horse trails for rentals. In the future we want to open it up to riding lessons in partnership with a local riding school.”

“That’s ambitious. How do you stay operational?” Tony slid back down to the seat and buckled himself back up. 

“Donations and we give eco tours during school breaks and during the summer or by appointment. We work with Bruce’s graduate program on large animals so the university gives us a grant on vet bills.” Natasha shouted over the road noise. 

“We also get a small stipend from the state to work with those who need community service hours filled.” she glanced back at Clint and saw that he was pointing things out to Pepper before continuing, “We’ve sunk almost all of our money into this place...as former carney’s it wasn’t much so we had to take out a bank loan.”

“And how’s that going?”

“Barely.” Natasha knew she should be talking up the place to make it seem like a good thing to invest in, but at the same time she wanted Stark to know the truth; that they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth and were a major thing from breaking from closing.

Tony was silent after that and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. Driving around the rest of the park, Clint pasted on a smile for the photos that would go on social media before directing Tony to head back to the main building. 

Once they were back, Natasha offered to show Pepper the small visitors area that they had set up while Clint showed off the acrobatics area to Tony. “Nat sometimes gives lessons to area kids, she was a high wire act and I did archery.” 

“I noticed the targets set up.” Tony gazed up at the wire and supports before turning to face Clint. “You must be wondering why I wanted to come here.”

“The thought did cross my mind, why a small operation like us instead of something more well known.”

Tony was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts before answering, “When my parents died there wasn’t really anyone else. Well, there was a family friend but he got caught embezzling Stark Industry funds so he was gone a few years after the accident. But there was a scientist my father worked with in his lab, Yinsen. He made sure that I didn’t shut myself in my room all the time doing science experiments and became my guardian. He loved big cats, couldn’t get enough of them. He could spend all day at the lion enclosure at the zoo, took me enough to just sit and watch them.”

Clint was silent as Tony spoke, realizing from the past tense that Yinsen wasn’t around anymore. He knew what that was like, to have your mentor not be around anymore, so he nodded. “And you want to do something in his memory.”

“Also because having Tony Stark at your sanctuary will certainly drum up business.” Tony smiled, the moment done and the shield back in place. “So, how much can I give?”

“Uh…” Clint trailed off, not expecting for Stark to make an offer right then and there. So he bought some time by reaching back into the ever-present cooler and pulling out two bottles of water. Doing some quick math for the parts and supplies that they needed for the water filtration system and installation he then offered Stark one, “Four should do it.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, surprised at the answer, “Four million sounds good. I’ll need a few weeks to see where our charity budget is, but you should have the money by next month.”

Clint choked on the water he was in the middle of swallowing when Tony said that he was donating four million instead of the four thousand he meant. Coughing to clear his throat, he quickly clarified. “I mean thousand, four thousand is what we need right now. I know that’s pocket change to you but-”

“From the way Natasha described your finances, and all the extra things you have going on; lessons, partnering with organizations for stipends, giving tours, makes it seem like you could use the four million.”

It was true, they were starting to look shaky with making payments on the loan if things didn’t pick up, but at the same time Clint didn’t know if having that much money was a good thing. “And what does this four million come with? We don’t have much to offer other than being able to have it be a write-off.”

“You have a lot of potential here, Barton.” Tony replied while setting down the bottle and sticking his hands in his pockets. “You could build a bigger information center, hire more people, give more tours, get those trails finished. Hell, even rescue more animals. With my connections, just _showing up_ for the charity gala that I’m going to throw for this place will raise more money than you can possibly dream of. All I’m asking is to be able to come by whenever I want to, take some photos, maybe even watch the lions when the mood strikes. And making sure that I get one of those bronze plaques that said I threw money at this place.”

Clint heard feet crunching gravel and looked up to see Natasha and Pepper walking back towards them. He thought about the sweat and blood they’d put into this place and how Stark was offering them the opportunity to do even more. Taking a breath he paused before saying, “I think we can do that. We’ll even put up two plaques.”

“Great! Let me get the champagne to celebrate.” Tony broke into a smile and gave Clint a friendly clap on his arm as he strode towards the SUV.

“What are we celebrating?” Natasha asked as she neared Clint and Pepper diverted towards Tony. 

“I’ll tell you the whole thing later, but you know that black and red dress you got when we left the circus?” Clint asked, as he took Natasha’s hand and threaded his fingers through hers.

Natasha nodded, “I said I wasn’t going to wear it unless there was a big enough even to go to.”

“Well, we just got invited by our newest pateron to a fundraising gala. So check if it still fits.”

Natasha looked at Clint for a second, letting it sink in, before breaking into a smile and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You know that it does.”


	4. Undercover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the 'undercover' square and really fun to write. Enjoy!

Clint Barton made a face while throwing his hands up in the air, letting the silk tie fall to his chest. “How the fuck do people do this five days a week? I can’t even get a basic knot done.”

“That’s because you never wear a tie five days a week.” Natasha said while still scanning the intel reports. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you wear a tie _ever_.”

“That’s not true.” Clint said while fishing out his phone and opening the YouTube app. “I’ve worn a tie at least once.”

“Clip on doesn’t count.”

“Oh...then no.” Clint clicked on the first video that he saw and set his phone on the dresser so he could follow along. Straightening the knot, Clint went for the suit jacket and pulled it on. “How do I look?”

Natasha glanced up and gave Clint a critical once-over. She knew from experience that the corporate world focused on how you looked and if it was up to the standards of your position. She also knew that if Clint didn’t look the part of a junior executive, then he’d stand out and their mission would be over before it started. “Your tie is a bit crooked and your shirt sleeves should peek out from your jacket, but not too much.”

“Really?” Clint shot Natasha a skeptical look as she straightened his tie and adjusted his cuffs.

“Yeah. Because you don’t have children at home demanding your attention you actually have time to make sure your cufflinks match.”

“What would I do without you?” Clint smiled as Natasha finished her adjustments and stepped back. 

“You’d still figure it out somehow.” Natasha watched as Clint gave her a wink for luck before walking down the hallway and out the door. Since they were in one of SHIELD’s cover houses, it was easy to pretend that she actually lived in a mini-mansion that belonged to a wealthy business executive and didn’t have to work if she didn’t want to.

“ _It’s a nice day and my tan could use some work._ ” She thought to herself while gathering up the dossiers, newspaper, and heading upstairs to change into a swimsuit.

\--  
Clint pulled into the driveway and turned the engine off while letting a heavy sigh escape his lips. The cover of junior exec at the company SHIELD thought was a front for a drug cartel was almost mind-numbing. “ _Scratch that, it_ is _mind-numbing._ ” he told himself while getting out of the car and stretching his arms. The commute wasn’t bad but it was long enough that Clint was getting more than a taste of a regular life.

Walking through the front door, he was greeted with the lingering smells of dinner long since made and packed up. “Nat.” he called out while loosening his tie and taking off his suit jacket. “You eat without me again?”

“Up here.” came the muffled reply and Clint trudged up the steps to the second floor and the master bedroom. He stuck his head through the doorway to see Nat already in bed with her usual oversized shirt on and her hair pulled up.

“I’m not that late.”

Natasha shrugged, “I was going to start going over the audio from the bugs so I decided to make myself comfortable while doing it. And to answer your question, yes- I already ate without you.”

“Aw.” Clint gave a mock pout but knew that she’d make enough for him plus maybe some leftovers for tomorrow. “What was it?”

“Linguini with clams and a white wine alfredo.”

“Sounds good.” Clint leaned against the doorway, sticking his hands in his pockets and not sure how to bring up the news his cover had gotten just as he was leaving.

Natasha noticed Clint’s hesitation and raised an eyebrow, “You learn something?”

“Well...the VP above my cover wants to ‘get to know me better’ so my ‘partner’ and I are invited to a dinner party on Saturday with him and his wife. Or mistress. I don’t remember which.”

Natasha bit back a smile as Clint finished and nodded her head, “Okay.”

Clint was confused,“Okay? I thought you were going to be backup in this one.”

Natasha got up and padded across the expensive looking rug to pat Clint on the shoulder before she walked out of the room. “I have a dress, we planned for this, it’ll be fun.”

“Fun?” Clint turned and watched Natasha open the spare room that held their equipment. “You and I have different definitions of ‘fun’ and a dinner party where I have to pretend that my golf game is worse than it really is.”

“The VP is one of the ones we’re looking at. So getting into his house will give us a chance to see if he’s dumb enough to keep the accounts on hand there.”

Clint considered the point for a moment before nodding his head, “Alright but we’re not buying an expensive bottle of wine. Remember the last time we tried to expense that? Accounting just laughed at us and we were out two grand.”

\--  
The gated community Clint turned the rental car into screamed ‘one percent.’ They had to both show ID’s and get checked off a list to get through the guard at the gatehouse, and as they drove into the area he saw the well-lit streets and the numerous patrol cars that were parked in front of the main security building. Not even counting the camera’s that were probably littering the main and access roads.

Driving towards the exec’s house, Clint dimly wondered what someone in the private sector made. His GS pay grade was decent enough but...at the same time he helped support his former sister-in-law and her kids out in Iowa. So if he left SHIELD and started a private security firm they probably wouldn’t mind the extra money.

“It’s not worth it.” Natasha replied as they turned the final corner and into the cul-de-sac. “Private sector might come with more money, but have to put up with these entitled people on a daily basis.”

“What, you a mind reader now?” Clint suppressed a smile as he pulled into the driveway and put the car in park. 

“No. I had the same thought as we went past the guardhouse.” Natasha got out and smoothed down the dark blue dress that fell to her knees. Grabbing the bottle of wine that looked expensive but didn’t cost an arm and a leg, she smiled at Clint and took his outstretched arm before they walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. “Ready for some overpriced food and small portions?”

“Yup. As long as one of us can get to his study and see if what we need is there.” Clint muttered under his breath as the door was opened by one of the housestaff. 

\--  
The dinner had gone smoothly; the courses weren’t that small, the wine was decent, and both of them managed to uphold the cover that they were just like any other semi-wealthy couple. They’d done this a few times by now, working undercover as a couple, but each time Clint was struck by how Natasha seemed to be comfortable with it all. She seemed to always know the right thing to say, when to laugh, or even how to steer the conversation in any direction- without either of their hosts being the wiser.

After the main course had been cleared and they were waiting for dessert, Clint left the dining room under the guise of using the washroom but in reality he was trying to see where the VP’s home office was. It wasn’t hard to locate and after quickly double-checking that someone wasn’t going to walk past, he tested the door knob. It was unlocked, which spoke volumes as to how secure the man felt in his own home, and Clint opened it a crack. Knowing that he had limited time, he quickly scoped out the layout of the room before quietly closing the door and getting back downstairs. 

All smiles the rest of the evening, he suffered through cigars on the patio with the man who was laundering money for a cartel and profiting from the suffering of others, while also making idle talk. He wasn’t as skilled as Natasha, but he could hold his own and by the time they left, the other man hinted broadly about how Clint’s cover could expect “big things in the future.”

“So was his wife just as bad?” Clint asked once they were in the car and driving away.

“Not really. I think she honestly has no idea what’s going on. Which makes me feel slightly bad about breaking into their house. Did you manage to get a layout of the office?”

“Yeah. The ledger should be either on his computer or in the wall safe behind the copycat Monet. We can ask Intel to get us a layout of the community as well as guard routes and blind spots near the house.”

“And since they told us that they’re going to Italy in a few days, we can hit the house then. The passcodes shouldn’t be too hard to crack.”

“It’s nice when these missions are easy, right?”

“It is. Although we could ‘forget’ about the guards and have them discover us if only to make it interesting. We haven’t had a good car chase in awhile.”

Clint drove past the guardhouse and gave a nod to the man on duty as they went by, “Only if you want to.”


	5. Love Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It starts as a way to replace kitchen appliances, but changes into something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last fill for BINGO! This was the free space and who doesn't love fake married? Shout out to my writing discord for letting me bounce ideas off of them and expanding on things. Also shout out to those at be_compromised for coming up with this so we all had something to do during the quarantine(s). Y'all are the best.

“Isn’t this the second time your place has been broken into?” Natasha Romanov asked Clint Barton as she went for the broom and dustpan to start sweeping up the broken glass.

“Yeah.” Clint Barton sighed, slumping slightly down in the chair. “But this is the first time they took stuff. Although I’m slightly impressed by the fact that they took my kitchen appliances but left the dishware.”

Clint had known Nat for what felt like most of his life. They’d both worked in the same office for a few years and became fast friends, remaining so even when Clint left for another job across town; frequently getting together for lunch or dinner. Which was why when he walked into his apartment to find it had been robbed, Clint knew that Natasha would help put everything back in order.

“I _told_ you to get another lock, and maybe move to another apartment building. And your dishware is pretty dated.” 

“Hey, the 70s had some pretty cool dish patterns. And I _did_ get another lock...I was in a rush this morning and possibly forgot to set it. And as for moving into another building, there isn’t another one within my price range that’s relatively close to my job and is pet friendly. You know that.”

“Let’s take a break and get some coffee.” Natasha said after dumping the broken glass into the trash and setting the dustpan and broom down. “My treat.”

The cafe across the street was moderately busy but they found a table easily enough. 

“You file a claim with your insurance?” Natasha looked at her best friend as he stared into his cup of straight black coffee. They’d tried dating pretty early on in their friendship but found that it wasn’t working so they adjusted to just being friends.

“Yeah, but since I don’t remember if I locked the door they might not pay out.” Clint sighed, wondering what he was going to do. His paycheck was stretched as it was; rent, food for both him and his golden retriever Lucky, cable and cell phone, metro pass...even with a nice salary it got eaten up pretty fast.

“-said that they’re registered at Macy’s and Crate & Barrel.” Natasha couldn’t help but overhear the conversation from the table next to them. “I looked at the registry and man, they went for some pricey stuff.”

“Because they know you go for the nice stuff when getting married. That’s why everyone puts a KitchenAid stand mixer on their registry.”

Raising an eyebrow, Natasha had an idea. Clint might need some convincing but in the end Natasha was certain that he’d be willing to go along with it. “ _I’ll need to do some research first through and plan how I’ll bring it up to him. This isn’t something that can be discussed over a text._ ” 

Glancing at her watch, Natasha saw that it was getting late and she needed to be getting back to her apartment. Standing she flashed Clint a smile, “Do you want to come over for take-out tomorrow? My treat.”

“Sure. That Asian place on the corner by your place good?”

“As long as we get extra eggrolls.”

\--  
Natasha finished her second eggroll and looked at Clint, who was wrestling with the rest of his lo mein, out of the corner of her eye while trying to figure out how to bring up her idea. She’d done some digging after a long day at the office and had taken a few notes, organizing a time table for the whole plot. After a few minutes she figured the direct approach was the best. “We should get married.”

“Uh...sorry?” he asked while replacing the chopsticks filled with food back into the container. 

“You need new stuff and since you said that the insurance company was likely to reject your claim, getting married would be a really good way to get replacement- no _brand new_ kitchen appliances. How would you like a KitchenAid mixer? With the pasta attachment.”

Clint hated to admit that the idea had some merit to it. When they worked together, the office would joke about how they should date and even some of their friends said how suited they were to each other. “But we tried the dating thing, remember? And it really didn’t work.”

“That was three years ago, Clint. Yeah you annoy the hell out of me sometimes but we...kind of work. Everyone says we do. We could also do that thing where we send an invite to a famous person and get something expensive out of it since they won’t actually go to the ceremony. Also it’s not real if we don’t file the certificate.”

Clint hated that Natasha knew that was something he’d mentioned in passing about wanting to do. A few minutes passed before he sighed while setting down his takeout carton. “Okay fine, let's pretend to get married. I get to pick the celebrity though.”

\--  
Clint raised an eyebrow as Natasha took another picture of her Insta feed, with him clearly in the background. “Explain to me why you’re doing this again?”

Natasha didn’t look up while replying, “Because we need to sell it. Meaning we have to drop hints that we’re seeing each other again.” Tapping on the picture she wanted, she uploaded the photo and quickly tapped out a vague caption. “And I did some research and we’re going to have to be in this for the long term.”

“What does that mean?” Clint finished his beer and walked towards the kitchen to rinse it out. “How long is ‘long term.’”

“At least a year. Actually it’ll be longer since we still have to find a venue and send out the invites. So we’re probably looking at two years, minimum.”

Clint stuck his head out of the doorway, “ _Two_ years? Nat...I could just replace everything in that time.”

“True, but you told me that you’d have to get second-hand items again. So if you want brand new stuff...two years it is.”

“ _Or_ we can get married at the courthouse when they have their designated days and have a party afterwards. That shrinks our timeline.”

Natasha tilted her head as she considered Clint’s counterproposal. “Okay. But when I was looking at wedding planning sites, they said we have to be together for over a year to not have to return the gifts.”

“That I can work with. A year it is.” Clint walked back into the living room and sat next to Natasha on the couch. They’d been spending more time than usual together, to plan this whole thing out and he’d caught himself looking forwards to the time during the day. 

“Another thing we need is a wedding website, just to sell it. I know a friend who can help us with that or we could go with one of those domain hosting sites…” Natasha continued on, but Clint’s mind started to wander and thinking about what it was like to ‘date’ his friend again.

It was weird, but ‘getting back together’ with her felt...nice. He still had his own place and so he could head over there when they weren’t planning or when Nat was busy with other stuff. Lucky had gotten used to smelling Milo on him and Natasha’s cat had started to tolerate him. “ _I’m just in this for the free stuff._ ” he told himself on the train ride back to Bed-Stuy. “ _Once I get new kitchen appliances then we can go back to the way things were._ ”

\--  
“How do you work this thing?” Natasha muttered more to herself than Clint as the sales associate finished with her spiel and walked off. They were at Crate & Barrel to find items for their ‘registry’ and to be honest, she felt like if she moved wrong then half the store would break. But there weren’t a lot of people at the store so Natasha tried to remember her ballerina training and just moved around carefully. 

Clint had wandered off to take a look at some of the items upstairs while Natasha stood in front of the plates and silverware, wondering if she could convince Clint to finally get rid of the 1970s plates he had in his cabinets. 

“Natasha...I’m surprised to see you here.”

Natasha turned while hiding the scanning gun behind her, careful of the square salad plates next to her, to see her friend and coworker Maria Hill on the other side of the display table. “Maria, I can honestly say that same thing.” she smiled while inwardly her mind was trying to think of a believable excuse.

“I’m picking up some things for Nick’s party.” Maria replied, referencing their bosses dinner parties that most of the corporate elite wanted to get an invite to. “Apparently more people RSVP’d at the last minute and he didn’t have enough dinnerware.”

“That sucks. Honestly Mister Fury’s lucky to have you and Phil pretty much running the place.” 

“Tell me about it. But he’s nice and gives out big bonus’s so it’s worth it.”

Natasha smiled and was about to make some vague excuse when Clint appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. “Nat I found a knife set that we can add to-oh heeeeyyyy Maria. Surprised to see you here.”

Maria flicked her gaze between the pair and Natasha could almost see her brain putting two and two together. “Everyone seems to be surprised today, it seems.”

“Yeah.” Clint cleared his throat while shoving his hands in his pockets. “We-err-Nat and I that is-”

“We’re getting married.” Natasha interrupted, plastering a big smile and pretending to be overjoyed at spilling the beans.

“Oh!” The surprise showed on Maria’s face and then turned to confusion. “I didn’t know you two were back together. And that it was serious.”

“Well, we didn’t want to tell anyone just in case it didn’t work out again but...it did.” Clint said, removing a hand from his pockets to wrap it around Natasha’s waist.

“We decided to skip the engagement ring and put it towards our trip, after the party.” Natasha hastily added, giving Maria a look that hopefully said ‘Clint Barton am I right’.

“Party?”

“Yeah. We don’t want to wait so we’re just going to have a party for all our friends and coworkers. Well, after the engagement party that is.” Natasha flashed Maria another smile. “But we haven’t made it public yet, so if you could keep it quiet until the weekend.”

“Oh no problem. I just hope it’ll be better than Steve’s birthday party, having it broken up by the police is something that he’s still weirdly proud of.” Maria said a tad too quickly but with the same amount of enthusiasm of her telling a difficult person they couldn’t see her boss without an appointment.

Clint watched Maria head towards the sale counter after a few more minutes of idle conversation and let out a sigh. “I think she bought it.” he said while turning around so he was facing the back wall. 

“Hmm...maybe. But we need to post it tonight.” Natasha mused before turning back to the display of coffee makers and marking one nice model with the scanner. 

“Why? Maria said she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“You remember how she seemed to know all the office gossip without anyone talking to her.”

Clint scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, that’s true. We’ll do it after this okay?”

“Sounds good to me.” Natasha beamed at Clint before taking his hand and pulling him across the store. “I found a mixer that I like.”

\--

So far the (fake) engagement party was going smoothly. 

It was at Natasha’s place, since hers was slightly larger than Clint’s and better furnished. Most of their friends had been able to make it, a lot of them friends of both Clint and Nat and always hanging out on a semi-regular basis, but this time everyone was a little more dressed up. Clint had even suggested they cater it since just going to a bar was slightly overdone. 

“I’m surprised Clint doesn’t have more of his things here.” Melinda May remarked to Natasha as she scanned the living room. “I remember he had a lot of kitchy stuff.”

“Well this is Clint we’re talking about, I’m not going to let him completely take over the place.” Natasha replied after taking a drink of her wine spritzer. “You’d be surprised at how much _Dog Cops_ merch he has. So he has to sort through it all and see what he wants to sell.”

“Is that where Lucky is? At Clint’s place?” Gemma Simmons asked, her bright smile always a welcoming thing to see. “I remember how he loved the attention when there was a party.”

“Yeah, we still have to get Milo and Lucky to tolerate each other. We’re working on it, slowly.”

Natasha smiled as their friends continued to congratulate them on getting back together but she couldn’t help but get a stab of remorse over it all. That the only reason people thought they were getting married was because of how they felt towards each other and not just for the gifts. But instead of telling the truth, she shoved the feeling down and forced smiles and promised that the invitations were going out soon.

The party passed in a blur, everyone leaving relatively late but not late enough that the neighbors would complain. As they packed up the last of the food, she voiced her sudden change of heart. 

Clint closed the fridge door while looking over at Natasha, “Do you want to call it off? We haven’t booked the place so it would be okay if you want to.”

Natasha looked at Clint and felt...something. It wasn’t the guilt from earlier, but something else entirely. It made her feel like butterflies were in her stomach but at the same time knowing that Clint would be okay with whatever she decided made her relax. The moment passed and she shook her head, “No that’s okay. Besides, we’re pulling it off pretty well. Although we might need to put a few of your things here because people were asking where your _Dog Cops_ action figures were.”

“They’re Funko Pops, not action figures.” Clint teased with a smile before resuming cleaning up. 

They’d already agreed that Clint should spend the night at Natasha’s place- the subway didn’t run all night and a neighbor had agreed to look after Lucky so there was little reason to brave an Uber at this time of night. He knew where the extra pillows and blankets were, so he got them easily and set them down on the couch. 

“I know the couch isn’t the softest, but…” Natasha trailed off, suddenly not sure of what she was thinking.

Clint looked up from spreading out the bedsheet and saw that Natasha had put her hair up, noticing that she was wearing the arrow necklace that he’d gotten her when they first dated. “But what?”

Natasha chewed on her bottom lip before continuing, “but if you...want something softer...I have extra room in my bed.”

Clint swallowed at the implication, or at least what he thought she was implying. “Extra room huh? And are there any, uh, boundaries?”

Natasha shook her head, “No more than before. And I still have some of the...supplies from last time. This doesn’t’ change anything though, we’re still friends.” 

Clint couldn’t help but smile at the clarification, “I can work with that.” 

Straightening up, he closed the distance between them and slid his hands across Natasha’s waist while pressing a kiss against her lips. After that it was a blur of kissing and trying not to trip over each other to get to Natasha’s bed. And throughout it all, he couldn’t help but think that getting robbed had actually turned out to be a good thing.

\--  
After the engagement party they fell into a pattern; Clint would spend a few nights at Natasha’s or she’d spend a few at his (even if she complained about the commute), they would party plan or get takeout and spend the evening watching _Master Chef_ or _Dog Cops_ , they’d send each other dumb texts or pictures through out the day if they weren’t spending the evening together, and it got to the point that Clint would only stop at his apartment to get his mail and pick up Lucky before heading to Natasha’s. Without a word Clint would leave clothes at her place, she’d leave some at his, and extra toothbrushes appeared at both their places. 

“I think that’s the last one.” Natasha said as she entered in the last name to the spreadsheet and looked at Clint with a smile. “Well other than your mystery invite, but we know that they’re not going to show up.”

“The last one what?” Clint was in the middle of reviewing the catering menu for their party before they finalized it on Saturday.

“RSVP’s. We finally got a reply back from Barney.”

“And?”

“He sends his regrets, obviously. But he did send us two hundred dollars, want to get fancy takeout next week?” 

“Sure.” Clint ran a hand through his hair and it hit him that the ‘wedding’ was just over a month away. “You pick out a dress yet?”

Natasha made a face, “Do I have to? Those things are expensive for something you’re only going to wear once.” 

Clint shrugged, “Only if you want to. It doesn’t have to be white, but you look pretty in anything.”

Natasha busied herself with focusing on the screen in front of her so she didn’t have to focus on the fact that Clint was making her blush. “Can I ask which rich person you sent the invite to?”

Clint shook his head while standing, “My lips are sealed. It’s getting late and I need to get going.”

“You sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Yeah, I have a presentation I need to go over and make some changes to. I’ll be up late and don’t want to disturb you.” Clint threw his messenger bag over his shoulder and pressed a quick kiss to the top of Natasha’s head, “Love you.”

Natasha froze as the words reached her ears and opened her mouth to clarify, but before she could Clint was gone and she was left staring at the door.

\--  
It was the day of the wedding and for some reason Clint was feeling nervous. He didn’t know why he had butterflies in his stomach, in the months since Natasha came up with the plan nothing had changed. “ _Well other than I’m spending more and more time at Natasha’s place and I feel like something isn’t missing from my life anymore. We’re still just doing this to replace my stuff that got stolen._ ” he told himself as he finished straightening his tie and reached for his suit jacket. They were going to meet at the courthouse and then grab a bite to eat afterwards. 

The courthouse was packed with people who had normal court business and then those who were there for the monthly marriage day. Being careful not to step on any hems or trains, Clint found the courthouse that they’d been assigned to and scanned the sea of white dresses for the familiar red hair. Not finding her, Clint tried to tell himself that Natasha was just running late and not suddenly changing her mind.

“Clint!”

He turned around at the shout and broke into a smile as he saw Natasha walking towards him. She’d skipped the white dress, like she’d said, and went for a cream wrap dress that belted at her hips with matching heels. Her hair was pulled back in an artfully messy bun and her ever present red lipstick. Feeling his breath catch, it was all Clint could do to remember to smile and gave her a light hug. 

“You look beautiful.” he whispered into her ear before letting go and taking her hand.

Natasha felt her face heat up from the compliment and gave his hand a nervous squeeze. “Melinda helped me with my hair. Her and Maria wanted to come, something about wanting to make sure it was legit, but I told them that they could see the marriage certificate before we filed it.”

Clint tilted his head, “They’re still suspicious?” 

“More like they still don’t believe that we’re actually going through with it.”

“But...we’re still not going to file the certificate right.”

Natasha just smiled at Clint as she sat down on one of the benches in the hallway.

“Nat.” 

“Think of the tax benefits though, we can file jointly.”

“ _Natasha._ ” She didn’t reply, just giving him another smile but Clin could see the mischievous glint in her eyes. Letting a sigh escape, he held his hands up in defeat. “Okay, _fine_. This tax year and then we get a divorce.”

“My deductions thank you.”

“Both of you look amazing.” 

Clint and Natasha turned at the voice they’d only heard on TV or online. Tony Stark stood behind them, oblivious to the phones that were suddenly appearing to take his picture, looking like he’d just come from a shareholder meeting in a dark blue suit with a blue and red striped tie and wearing his ever present sunglasses.

“I…I’m sorry?” Natasha somehow found her voice, confused at why one of the richest men currently alive was doing at the courthouse. 

“Didn’t Pepper send in my RSVP?” Tony smiled as he walked towards the couple. “I know there’s the current trend of sending wedding invites to rich people just to see if they’d get an expensive gift, but I like to show up just to make sure that one of you aren’t trying to get a free espresso machine.”

“Uh...how did you know where we’d be?” Clint managed to get out, confused at the turn of events. “I mean-we didn’t even know what courtroom we’d be in until we got here.”

Tony just smiled and clapped Clint on the shoulder as he walked by, “I called in a favor to find out. Besides, how many people can say that they’ve had their marriage certificate signed by Tony Stark?”

Natasha watched Stark walk into the courtroom and turned to Clint, eyes glaring daggers at him while whispering, “You sent your rich person invite to _Tony Stark_?”

“I mean, he probably gets so many of those...I didn’t he’d actually show up.” he hissed back, aware that the other couples nearby were staring at them.

“This is Tony Stark we’re talking about. The man decided to drive his own race car during a grand prix because he thought it would be fun, of course he’d show up to something he was invited to.”

“So I guess we should put him down as a ‘yes’ for the party?”

“Barton and Romanov!” The court clerk called out, letting Clint and Natasha their turn had arrived. 

Taking a steadying breath Natasha glared at Clint, silently telling him they’d finish the conversation later. Inside, Stark was grinning at them as they walked through the gallery and stopped in the middle of the room. The ceremony was quick and they both signed the marriage certificate, with Tony giving them a wink as he signed in the ‘witness’ section.

“Congratulations and I’ll see you at the party.” Tony gave them a wink before striding out of the courtroom while Clint and Natasha were still trying to wrap their heads around what had just happened.

Walking out of the courthouse holding hands Clint knew that nothing had changed, but at the same time felt like something had. It was strange, but ‘marrying’ Natasha made him feel like he’d finally done something right with his life. 

The next day he was back at the office, nothing changed in his absence other than his coworkers throwing him a small party in celebration; it was just an excuse to order cake and put the phones on silent for forty-five minutes but he was grateful for it anyways.

Standing in his apartment instead of going to Natasha’s like he’d normally would have done though, it felt like something was missing. He tried to distract himself by ordering some outrageous takeout that he’d wanted for the longest time and jumping into a _Chopped_ marathon...but he found himself unable to concentrate. “What do you think Lucky, should I go over to Nats?”

Lucky just wagged his tail and gave a soft _whoof_ , nudging Clint’s hand with his nose for scratches.

Smiling he obliged the dog and after a few minutes his buzzer sounded. Giving Lucky one last pat, he walked over towards the door and hit the intercom, “I didn’t order anything.”

“ _Too bad, I hear you’re a good tipper_.”

Clint straightened at Natasha’s voice and took a breath to steady himself before replying, “You want to come up?”

“ _It would be nice to get out of the rain._ ”

“Okay okay.”

It didn’t take Natasha long to arrive at his floor and he opened the door for her, watching as she set her rain jacket on the back of a chair and her umbrella in the stand. Closing and locking the door he turned around while asking, “Why are you-”

“I missed you.” Natasha interrupted, walking quickly towards Clint and enveloping him in a hug. “It’s weird but my place was too quiet without you.”

Clint laughed and placed a kiss on Natasha’s head, “Same here. I was about to call you and ask if I could come over. I guess we should talk huh?”

Natasha stood on her toes and gave a firm kiss to Clint, “Later, right now I don’t want to talk.”

“Not talking right now is fine with me.”  
\--

The weekend approached almost too quickly and before Clint knew it, they were Ubering to the venue to set up for the party. The venue wasn’t huge, but it was large enough to fit all of their friends and coworkers who had RSVP’d. Melinda, Phil, Maria, and Steve had all volunteered to help set up so the arranging the party favors and hanging everything went smoothly. The catering staff arrived when they said they would and none of the TV wedding shenanigans happened, much to Natasha’s delight.

Her and Clint slipped out a half-hour before everyone was set to arrive to slip into what they’d worn earlier in the week. The plan was to have the DJ they’d hired to announce them, walk into the room, and give a short speech before the party started. 

“You look nice.” Clint smiled as he pushed a stray hair behind Natasha’s ear. 

“So do you. I should get you in a tux more often.” Natasha took a breath to steady her nerves, hoping that this didn’t backfire on her. “Clint, before we go in there...there’s something I need to suggest.”

“What? Do I have a stain somewhere? This is a rental and if I get it dirty I’m gonna lose my-”

“No. Not that, the suit’s fine. Just...I was thinking that, maybe, we stay...married.”

Clint paused from his inspection of the suit and looked at Natasha. “Like after the year? So for what two? ‘Cause I mean, sure we can file for two tax returns.”

“Like for longer than two.” Natasha wanted to stomp her heel because Clint was being extra dumb at the moment and apparently she had to spell it out for more than normal. “These past months, I’ve enjoyed spending time with you. Why do you think I came over to your apartment earlier this week?”

“Well I thought it was for-”

“Yes it was for that.” Natasha interrupted, feeling her face heat up but forged ahead anyways. “But also because I couldn’t stand my apartment without you in it. You have questionable taste in sports teams, but...I got used to Lucky sprawling on the floor, you making dinner three times a week, even...sleeping next to you.”

Clint swallowed at the declaration and looked at Natasha before breaking into a grin, “I’m glad you feel that way ‘cause I do too. I wasn’t sure how to bring it up, but I would love to stay married to you.”

Natasha put her arms around Clint’s neck and moved closer to kiss him. It was soft and the best thing in the world. “But I’m still not giving up my apartment.” she muttered after they broke apart for air, her lips still close to his.

“I can live with that.” Clint said before he went in for another kiss, placing his hands on Natasha’s waist.

They were still kissing when he was aware of a door opening and Maria started to say, “Guess what, Tony Stark just show-oh. Okay. So...should I give you guys five minutes?”

Clint and Natasha broke apart and laughed, turning to look at Maria. “There should be an extra spot in the back for Stark. And we’ll be right in.”

As Maria stepped back inside the room, Clint took Natasha’s hand and gave it a squeeze. What ever happened from here on out, they were always going to be there for each other. 

And he was ready for it.


End file.
